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Throughout the Bible, there are references to "the life," "the life of God," "saving your life," "losing your life," "eternal life," "everlasting life," "endless life," "the tree of life," etc. It can be somewhat confusing without understanding the fundamental message about life.

Many people think this means Jesus is the way to live forever, but everyone lives forever in some form of life — even people in Hell are alive. So, when Jesus says live forever, he is referring to living in the life of God, which life is forever because God's life is forever, without end. To live in the life of God is vastly superior to how we live today; it is to be in fellowship with, in the presence of, in the heavenly light, in paradise, energized by God, directed by God. To have the life of God is to be restored in God's image of true righteousness and holiness. As Jesus said:

Obviously He is not the bread of earthly life; we buy that bread in the store. He is the bread of the life of God, a heavenly bread. Later we will show how that bread is eaten; and this is the bread in "give us our daily bread " that you have prayed a thousand times.

The scriptures only testify to Jesus, the source of the life of God, Christ, which life is Jesus, who is eternal life.
Scriptures are not alive; they are dead. There is no life to be obtained from studying the scriptures.
Only the Spirit of Christ is alive, and only the Spirit can impart the new life of God.The life of God, imparted only from the Spirit, must be obtained while on earth, and is everlasting.
The life of God is not getting dressed up in your best clothes, singing, praying, and reading the Bible.
The life of God is to have the Spirit of Jesus Christ guiding your every word and deed, making everything you do and say, perfectly virtuous. The life of God is to be restored in God's image of true righteousness and holiness, which image is Jesus Christ being within you in sufficient measure to be your true, controlling Lord.

There is a small measure of the life of God, which is the light of men, in all men, but it is chained down in darkness:

Although we have this small measure of the life of God, God considers us dead to the life of God because it does not control us; it is chained down by the dark spirit within us. That is why Jesus said: "let the dead bury the dead;" which means let those dead to the life of God bury those who physically die.

At some point in our early lifetime Christ the light anonymously tells all of us that if we turn from evil and do what is right, we will do well. To do well is to have the life of God increase in us.
God looks at those who show a sincere interest in following truth, doing good, and avoiding evil, and knows who is capable of seeking Him with all their heart and strength; to those men and women of goodwill He gives a taste of his goodness, a taste of the world to come, a spiritual experience, to create a hunger in them for more of Him.*

How do we increase this life of God within us, so that it controls us? We seek to hear more of his words because the words we hear him speak to us, (which words we believe and act upon), are Spirit and impart the life of God to us, (as Paul said: this is the word of faith that we preach) :

From the Word of the Lord within: "It is the Spirit who gives life, nothing else."The flesh profits nothing; if you live after the flesh, you will die, — die to the life of God. John 6:63, Rom 8:8,13. Reading, attending services, singing, praying are all works of the flesh. Reading the Bible builds your hope, but it does not give you life. Reading about sin and the law kills our self-confidence, by identifying and calling attention to our selfish, evil behaviors, performed by men dead to the life of God. Reading the Bible cannot impart the Spirit or the life of God to you. It cannot make you capable of loving God with all your heart, or loving your neighbor as yourself, or cleansing you of sin; only the Spirit can do any of that.

So Christ is the life of God, and we must labor in this life to possess Jesus completely, in order for him to be our true Lord and Master, controlling all our words and deeds in this life on earth and forever in the next life; and if we don't increase Christ within us to become our ruling Lord of all words and deeds, we lose the life of God completely when He steps out of us after death. We must lose our fleshly, selfish life to save our life of God within us, and if we try to save our selfish, fleshly life, (by ignoring his anonymous pleadings for us to turn from evil), we will lose the life of God within us when it is taken away in Hell.

These works, done in the life of God, are to your creator's pleasure and to your ultimate joy.
Following the Lord's continual directions in obedient faith is supremely satisfying because you know every word you speak, and every action you take, is perfectly virtuous, impeccable, demonstrating the power and love of God to all.